Defaulters will get more time to prove their case
With sealing of illegal properties likely to be major issue in the next year’s Lok Sabha polls in the national Capital, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has prepared a draft guideline for sealing of unauthorised construction.
If adopted, the owners of such property will have to be given 15 days notice and two weeks of additional time for disposal of their cases. This will come as major relief to thousands of parties who could have found their properties sealed on waking up in the morning without any advance notice to even remove their garments and kitchen wares.
The guidelines called “Draft Procedure for Issuance of Advance Notice to alleged Defaulters,” for sealing elaborates how many days of notice period should be given before sealing of the unauthorised construction and what procedure should be adopted before the demolition.
Presently, there is no standard operating procedure is adopted by the local bodies for issuance of advance notice to alleged defaulters on the unauthorised constructions.
As per ongoing norm, though a showcause notice is issued to the owners of the unauthorised properties to prove his case, yet there is no fixed timeframe.
In case of many privileged colonies the notice was never executed even after lapse of months, but in other cases properties were sealed and demolished within days.
According to proposed guidelines, defaulters of unauthorised construction will be given one month time to prove their case. In case they fail, the sealing or demolition drive will take place. In the case of misuse of premises, the local body will give one month time to defaulters.
In both the cases, the final order of sealing or demolition of unauthorised construction will take at least 30 days after issuance of showcause notice to defaulters.
On the encroachment of public land or right of way (ROW), the local body will immediately start demolition of temporary structure. If the structure is permanent, then it is needed 7-8 days for final action. The draft says the desealing process that includes scrutiny of document should be completed within eight days.
The sealing drive in Delhi is being carried out by a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee against business establishments that are using residential properties for commercial purposes without paying conversion charges. The sealing drive in Delhi is being implemented by the three BJP-led municipal corporations. The issue of sealing and demolition of unauthorised constructions has become a major political issue in the national Capital. The issue is set to become a major issue in the coming Lok Sabha polls next year. The Government wants that the shopkeeper should be given a full chance to keep his side before sealing the shop. As many as thousands of properties and shops have been sealed in the national Capital.
As per draft, the authorities will have to give at least 24 to 38 days time to defaulters in the case of unauthorised construction in the existing building to seal or demolish the structure. The draft says, the authorities will take three to four days for identification of unauthorised structure. The showcause notice will be sent on fourth day onwards.
Between 4th to 18 days, defaulters will be given opportunities to present their case and submit the supporting documents. The concerned local body will examine the document on 19th day onwards. If the reply is not satisfactorily or non-permissible uses being carried out without requisite permission, immediate sealing action will be taken on 19th to 23 days and order to this effect will be passed between 24 to 26 days after issuance of first showcause notice. The entire procedure is expected to take 38 to 40 days. In case people are living in the building, then extra 15 days should be given to vacate them.
The draft further says that 15 days will be given to defaulters for self-demolition or rectification of the unauthorised construction within issuance of demolition order. For final order of demolition, one week should be given to make arrangement of staff, police force and resources.
In the case of misuse of premises, the draft says authorities will take one to three days for identification of the unauthorised development and putting up the case for approval of competent authority. The showcause notice will be given on the fourth day to defaulters to give time period of 15 days to submit appropriate reply along with supporting documents. The entire exercise will take one month time to complete the procedure before starting the sealing or demolition process.
“Action in such illegalities would have to follow by following due process of law and also in accordance with the procedure established by law,” officials said.